AMY: Leonardo daVinci, George Washington,and Taylor Swift all tapped into the many benefits of keeping a journal. Journaling in the classroom allows students to transfer their thoughts and feelings from their minds to the page. Here's a list of 20 different types of learning journals that help students think.

KATHY: Hocus pocus, everybody focus! Do you find it difficult to focus on one task at a time? You’re not alone. Psychologists agree that multitasking is a myth, and attempts to do so decrease rather than increase our productivity. Still, the allure of smartphone notifications, Instagram reels, and the like makes it hard for students (and teachers) to concentrate on one task.  A recent post on Angela Watson’s Truth for Teachers shares strategies educators can use to help students build their attention stamina. Additional tips can be found on this guest post featured on the Learning Scientists blog.

LACEY: If you or your students are creating a podcast, check out Adobe Podcast AI. This tool makes podcast production easier and faster by enhancing speech, analyzing your recording setup, and editing audio like a doc. 

RECOMMENDED READ: Happy Grades by Tricia Underwood

RECOMMENDED TO-DO: Use this happiness calendar for a daily dose of gratitude

RECOMMENDED VISIT: The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir

AMY: Looking for a new class presentation format? Try PechaKucha 20x20. This presentation format requires a speaker to deliver twenty seconds of commentary per slide for twenty consecutive, automatically advancing slides. The total presentation time for a PechaKucha presentation is six minutes and forty seconds. And if you are tired of looking at the same slide deck templates, try Slidesmania for plenty of new looks.

KATHY: Building new habits is not just for January. In this Hidden Brain podcast psychologist Hal Hershfield shares strategies to make decisions today that will benefit your future self. Follow that up with the work of author James Clear. His NYT best-selling book, Atomic Habits, and step-by-step email course guide you through a framework to build habits that stick. He also recently launched a MasterClass, Small Habits that Make a Big Impact on Your Life.

LACEY: Have you ever wondered how Siri, Alexa and Google Home work? Experiment with the potential and peril of AI assistants! In this hands-on activity, you will build experiences, datasets and rules for your own AI assistant, all while considering the implications on different users and society.

RECOMMENDED TO-DO: Check Someone's Availability on Google Calendar 

RECOMMENDED LISTEN: AI, Attention and Doing Hard Things Podcast

RECOMMENDED VISIT: Michael C. Carlos Museum 

AMY: The Neuroscience Primer is the latest resource from the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning. Go through this interactive slide deck to test your knowledge on how the brain learns best.

KATHY: Are you looking for ways to provide regular feedback to your students? Do you want your students to be more involved in assessing their learning? Consider incorporating student mini-conferences. These five-minute conversations offer a chance for formative assessment of students' learning and allow students to engage in self-reflection. In this blog post, educator John Spencer describes four different types of student conferences. 

LACEY: Canva's 'Magic' AI tools are are simplifying the process of crafting beautiful designs. You can effortlessly refine images by eliminating backgrounds or editing out unwanted elements, generate written content seamlessly within your design, and instantly convert your text into compelling presentations.

RECOMMENDED READ: Using Memes as a teaching tool - The Learning Scientist

RECOMMENDED LISTEN: Cult of Pedagogy Podcast

RECOMMENDED VISIT: The School Colors book display in the HS Library.  The display was curated by a senior as a project for his short term class last May.